


it's only your imagination again

by wreckingtomlinson (karasunonolibero)



Series: disaster harry [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-16 02:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17540918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunonolibero/pseuds/wreckingtomlinson
Summary: “So,” Louis begins, curling up in one corner of the sofa. “Guess my secret’s out.”Harry nods. “The cat’s out of the bag,” he says with a completely straight face.~Or, Harry's pretty convinced his new neighbor has a cat.





	it's only your imagination again

**Author's Note:**

> i'll do more author's notes after the reveal, but for now, the fic title is from imagination by frank sinatra. enjoy!

Harry’s new neighbor has the most adorable cat he’s ever seen.

Niall parks the moving van by the curb of Harry’s new house—holy _shit_ , Harry lives in a _house_ now—and is babbling on about which room they should unpack first, but all Harry can focus on is the gray cat sitting in his neighbor’s window, staring at him. Probably judging him.

“Look!” Harry cuts Niall off as they get out of the van and points at the cat. “Isn’t that the cutest cat you’ve ever seen?”

The cat startles at that, darting away in the blink of an eye. Niall claps him on the back. “Great going, you’ve only been on the block for five minutes and you scared the neighbor’s cat out of the window. I hope you know you’ll never be friends with that neighbor now.”

Harry crosses his arms and pouts. “He’ll forgive me. Cats love me.”

“The cat might, but his owner might not. Now come on. I want to get you moved in so you can order me the pizza you promised.”

They get to work, hauling boxes of Harry’s junk into the big empty house. It’s not much, just a two-bed, two-bath on a quiet street, but it’s light and it’s modern and Harry feels like he could really make it feel like a home. He’s been saying for the last couple of years that he wanted a home, a husband, and maybe a few pets, but since the husband part hasn’t been going so well he decided to move ahead with the house, which would then allow him to get pets, which would then attract a husband. It’s only logical.

As Harry drags his floor lamp up the front walk, he spots the cat again, this time sitting by the hedge in front of his neighbor’s porch. He’s never seen a cat stare so much.

“Well, hi,” Harry says, leaving the lamp in the grass and slowly approaching the cat with his hand held out. “You’re a pretty kitty, aren’t you?”

The cat eyes him warily, but makes no move to dart off again as Harry moves closer. It gives Harry’s hand a delicate sniff, before batting at his fingers and nudging its head under his palm.

Harry grins. He’s making friends! “You’re so sweet,” he coos, scratching between the cat’s ears and earning a purr. “I wonder if your mom or dad is home. I’d love to meet my new neighbors.”

“Is that the cat?” Niall’s voice calls obnoxiously.

The cat hisses. “Please don’t run away again!” Harry pleads. “He’s loud, but he means well. Promise.”

The cat blinks, and for a second Harry realizes how stupid he looks, crouching under a bush to talk to a cat. Does the cat even understand?

Apparently, it does, because it decides to march right up to Niall’s feet and yowl at him.

Niall glances down and grins. “Aw, you are pretty adorable,” he says, crouching down and offering his own hand. “Do you have a hot owner for my pathetic friend?”

The cat seems to take as much offense to this as Harry does, reaching out and swiping its claws across the back of Niall’s hand and then running away.

“Ow! Did you see that?” Niall exclaims. “Your neighbor better not be as rude as his cat.”

“Maybe it’s just you. The cat loves me,” Harry says in a prissy tone. “And I’m going to make great friends with the owner. Just wait.”

~

A few hours later, Harry notices the house next door has its lights on. Maybe this is a good time to introduce himself. He grabs the cookies that have been cooling by the oven, arranges them as neatly as he can on a paper plate, and brings them over to the front door.

Harry feels like he watches the next ten seconds unfold in slow motion. The door opens to reveal a man a few inches shorter than Harry, with a cozy-looking Adidas hoodie and pretty, pretty blue eyes. He runs his hand through his shaggy brown hair, eyeing Harry curiously. “Hi?”

“Hi, I’m Harry, I just moved in next door,” Harry gets out in a rush, holding the plate of cookies up. “These are for you.”

The man looks from Harry to the cookies back to Harry. “You’re not a serial killer, are you?”

“Why would a serial killer bring cookies?”

“To literally kill his neighbors with kindness.” The man grins sharply then, and starts laughing. “Jesus, don’t look so scared. I’m just messing with you. I’m Louis. Come on in.”

Louis turns around, and Harry almost wants to cry at how good he looks from behind. _No one’s_ ass looks good in sweatpants, and yet here Louis is, with his ass looking fantastic in sweatpants.

Louis’ floor plan is almost the same as his own, just mirrored, and it seems Louis’ shrunk the kitchen to make a larger living room space. It’s a little cluttered, with blankets and pillows strewn on the sofa and a few days’ worth of mugs in the sink and pictures on every surface, but it feels cozy. Like a home. “I would have come over to say hi earlier, but I’ve been working from home most of the day,” Louis is saying as he pads into the kitchen. “Tea or coffee or something?”

“Whatever tea you’re making is fine.” Harry perches on one of the barstools by the counter. “You get to work from home? That’s nice.”

“I manage Pet Spot,” Louis tells him, putting a kettle on the stove. “The pet store downtown in between the record store and the cupcake cafe.”

“Speaking of pets, your cat is adorable.”

“My cat?”

“Yeah, when I moved in I saw a gray and white cat under your hedge.”

Louis frowns. “I don’t have a cat.”

“You—what?” Harry sputters. “I swear, it was in your window! I saw it! I pointed at it and it ran away!”

Louis gives him a weird look, and Harry can sense his chances with this beautiful man slipping down the drain. “Are you sure you didn’t imagine the cat?” Louis asks gently, like he’s asking a child about an imaginary friend.

“I’m not crazy!” Harry shouts in a tone of voice that definitely indicates he could be crazy. “I’m—I think I’m just going to go now. Enjoy the cookies.”

And then, like a crazy person, he runs out the door.

~

Harry hides from Louis for the next few days, not wanting to give Louis any more reasons to believe he’s nuts. Every time he tries to bring it up to Niall, Niall just cackles at him.

“Maybe it’s a sign for you to get a cat,” he suggests, to which Harry just groans.

Two entire weeks go by without Harry seeing either Louis or the cat. Until one day, he sees both.

He’s puttering around in his front garden, watering the sunflowers he’s tried to plant in front of his window, when he notices a gray blur go streaking to hide under the hedge. Curious, he sneaks around to try and peer under the hedge.

The cat is pawing around in a pile of clothing, and then—then the cat turns into Louis. One second there’s the gray and white cat, and the next Louis is sitting in its place. Completely naked.

Harry can’t help himself. “Holy shit! You don’t have a cat, you _are_ a cat!”

Louis shrieks, gaze darting around wildly before it lands on Harry. “Can you keep your voice down?” Louis gives him a very catlike hiss, still crouched on the ground, and snatches up his clothes. “This isn’t the kind of thing you announce to the entire fucking street!”

“So…” Harry’s eyes drop to the bundle of clothes Louis is holding in front of himself. “When you shift, you lose your clothes?”

Louis sighs. “If we’re going to talk about this, how about we do it inside and dressed?” he suggests.

“Deal.”

“Fine. Go away and come back in ten minutes.”

Harry waits exactly eleven minutes before going back over, in case Louis isn’t ready or something. Should be bring more cookies? He decides against that and just shows up.

Louis still looks a little frazzled when he answers the door, hair sticking up in random tufts that Harry privately thinks resemble cat ears. Or maybe he’s just projecting at this point. Who knows.

“So,” Louis begins, curling up in one corner of the sofa. “Guess my secret’s out.”

Harry nods. “The cat’s out of the bag,” he says with a completely straight face.

Louis swats at his arm. “That was terrible.”

“You _do_ act like a cat.”

“Well, no shit. I’m a cat shifter.”

“So like, a werewolf, but a cat?”

Louis rolls his eyes. “No. Werewolves turn on the full moon. I can do it whenever I damn well feel like it.”

“Hey, I don’t know this stuff. I’ve never met a cat shifter before. Or like…anyone not human.” Harry waves a hand. “Are you guys just like, hidden in plain sight?”

“Mostly, yeah.” Louis shrugs. “You’ve probably met other supernaturals and just don’t know it. Like Niall.”

“ _Niall_?” Harry gawks. “You think _Niall_ isn’t human?”

“Can’t tell for sure. But I got a weird vibe from him when we first met, and usually my gut feelings are right.”

Oh, god. Harry is surrounded by magical creatures. The god damn Tooth Fairy is probably real too, at this rate. “I can’t believe this,” he says, burying his face in his hands.

“Hey.” Louis puts a hand on his arm. “Would this make you feel better?” And with that, he shifts again, shrinking till his clothes pool on the sofa cushions and he emerges in his cat form to nuzzle under Harry’s chin.

Despite the strange turn this day has taken, Harry grins, letting Louis’ tail curl around his hand. “You _are_ a very cute cat,” he tells Louis, scratching under his chin.

Louis hisses at that and swats him on the nose.

“Okay, okay, not cute. Fussy. But still sweet.”

Louis gives a little yowl at that, but doesn’t smack Harry again, instead curling up against him and purring. That’s how he dozes off, on Louis’ couch with Louis lying on his chest, head tucked under his chin.

~

He wakes up a few hours later to a series of texts from Niall. Louis is still on his chest, either asleep or pretending to be. Not wanting to disturb Louis, Harry holds his phone to the side and glances at the messages.

_Niall: hey remember how i told u to get a cat_

_Niall: pet spot is having a cat adoption day next weekend_

_Niall: u should go and stop being lonely and also stop avoiding louis_

In response, Harry takes a selfie, making sure Louis is visible in the picture, and sends it to Niall with no caption. The response is instant.

_Niall: WAIT THAT’S THE CAT_

_Niall: SO HE DOES HAVE A CAT_

_Harry: no he doesn’t :)_

He sends the one message, then goes to put his phone on do not disturb, but not before one more frantic text from Niall pops up.

_Niall: WHAT THE FUCK HARRY_

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you liked it, you can come visit me on [tumblr](http://humhalleloujah.tumblr.com), and if you really liked it, please consider reblogging the [fic post](https://humhalleloujah.tumblr.com/post/183167711511/1dshortficfest-1dshortficfest-its-only-your) x


End file.
